REACTION | Gary Owers On Today’s 1-0 Defeat To Chippenham Town

Torquay United head coach Gary Owers was understandably disappointed with today’s 1-0 defeat to Chippenham Town.

United went behind in the 25th minute when Matt Smith rose in the penalty box to head home. The opening 20 minutes of the first half was promising for United where they dominated possession and looked a threat in Chippenham’s penalty box.

“When you lose a game at home you’re going to be disappointed,” said Owers. “We started the game really brightly, that’s as good as we’ve been. And then we didn’t get that goal that we needed to get at that time, and fell behind to a bit of a sucker punch with the setplay, which is again disappointing because we’ve lost two games at home to three setplays.

“As the game wore on we ran out of ideas, unfortunately, that was the biggest thing for me – we have to be braver. We have to be more resilient and whatever is going on in the terraces, you have to get on the ball, you have to look for the ball and make yourself available and we didn’t.

“We played into their hands. The longer the game went, we went back to front too long too often. That’s when I need everyone to show for the ball. They do it during the week when there’s no-one around on the training ground. It’s here during the heat of the battle; it hasn’t happened today.”

United look to set things right in seven days time away to Hungerford Town.

“We can all talk, sometimes we can scream and shout, sometimes we can try and reason. I just expressed my disappointment, really. I’m sure the lads are disappointed. They’re a good group of lads. I’ve brought them all here or kept them here and I want them to do well, and I still want them to do well.”